Email This StoryLook to 'freegans' for example of sustainability
Oct. 30, 2008I have always been told by my mother and elders not to eat food off the ground or out of the trash for that matter. This was one of the first rules I learned as a child.
I then branched out. I stretched that rule and obtained the clever "three-second rule" or "ten second rule," depending on how bad I wanted that cookie before it fell to the ground.
I honestly thought that this was as far as I would go when it came down to eating something that has been "contaminated." Unfortunately, I have gone above and beyond once again and stretched my mother's rule even farther than you could imagine. I am actually thinking about trash can diving.
That is what a grassroots subculture group called "freegans" is doing. They have decided to live outside the consumer society. Instead, they focus on buying less and use only what they need. One of the main ways freegans go about doing this is by salvaging food and other goods from the garbage.
This may sound bizarre if you have a mother like mine. The food the freegans eat is far from gross. It's not toxic waste by any means, it's food that grocery stores or little bagel shops throw away at the end of every day. So everything is perfectly packaged. The seal hasn't been broken. The food just wasn't needed anymore, and so the stores and restaurants threw it out.
You would be surprised to see how many cartoons of eggs are thrown away every day by grocery stores because they have one cracked egg. "Stores throw away 2 to 3 percent of their inventory daily," theory of constraints expert Lisa Lang said earlier this year on the Oprah Show. That is approximately $30 billion in food, which could feed entire countries.
But it's about more than just salvaging food. Freeganism has expanded to cover all different types of simple living. Obviously, the majority is not going to set out on late-night excursions to search through bags of garbage for food, but there are other ways to reduce how much you consume.
Part of freegan lifestyle is learning to simply ask yourself, "Do I really need this?" Now, don't get me wrong, I am a minor shop-a-holic. But after researching this style of living, I've realized that I don't always need new clothes or electronics. I live with what I already have.
I've also discovered less radical ways of taking part in sustainability. Through freecycle.org., I've found a way to give stuff and get stuff absolutely free. Freecycle is an organization created in order to keep unwanted belongings, such as clothes, from ending up in landfills. Instead, unwanted items can be posted on the Web site for whomever is interested to claim. So if you have a pair of jeans or a sweater you don't wear anymore, put it on freecycle.org.
The freegan lifestyle is a drastic change from the lifestyle I am living now, but it makes perfect sense, especially as a college student when money is tight and we are in a time where resources are diminishing.
I'm thinking of adopting this way of living just because I am so frustrated with my own wasteful culture. It is truly awful how many people suffer, yet we just pick and choose and take so many things for granted.
I would much rather be known as someone who digs in the garbage for food then as someone who is wasteful and continuously purchases frivolous things.
Courtney Webb is a junior journalism major from Houston.
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